A New Way to Measure Mobile Marketing

I recently posted this method of mobile marketing on The Hacker Group website here. We’re doing some very interesting work with our clients on connecting mobile with other campaigns for improving targeting and tracking. Here’s the text of the post.

Digital marketers are addicted to cookies. Not the delicious raisin-oatmeal variety, but the unique text files that reside in your internet browser on your computer that ID you as someone who visits ESPN.com and buys power tools regularly on Amazon.

The use of cookies is the dominant paradigm in digital tracking and it DOESN’T WORK in the mobile marketing environment. The fragmented device, mobile app and operating system environment doesn’t allow for consistent placement and usage of cookies across devices. There is no central ad serving system such as an Atlas DMT or DoubleClick that can consolidate the view of a consumer. So, fugetaboutit.

On top of the cookie tragedy is the fact that mobile devices – especially smart phones – are used differently than the research > buy > retain flow we’ve come to know and expect on computers and websites. Mobile phones are used as research and navigate aids much more than research and buy aids. We shouldn’t EXPECT people to research a purchase and buy it on their smartphone so why should EXPECT our smelly old tracking systems to replicate on that platform. You’re right, we shouldn’t.

I’d much rather light a candle than curse the darkness, so here is what we CAN do to track the impact of mobile – especially in relationship to physical retail.

Change the mobile paradigm from tracking cookies to tracking location. Most smartphone users have location turned on at all times for weather apps, social media networks, check-ins, etc. In 2012 it was 73% and that was up significantly from 2011. It’s a thing, mobile ad networks know where your device is most of the time.

Now, if we take this bit of info and apply that to tracking, we can start to make some interesting connections such as:

– A control group of mobile devices did not see my ad, but a test group of mobile devices DID see my ad. How many of those that saw my ad showed up in my retail store vs the control?

– Ad networks see the mobile device go to a specific spot every night around 6pm and stay there until 7am. High likelihood that the device owner lives there. What does that address tell us about the device owner?

Creepy? A little. But, it is a way to understand the new ways mobile marketers are looking to change the tracking paradigm and understand how the delivery and receipt of mobile ads are stimulating response and encouraging specific behavior. It’s not perfect, but what tracking system is.

So, to measure the impact of mobile media, break the current ad tracking paradigm and think location, location, location. Feel free to comment to this blog with thoughts and tomatoes.